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Sunday, March 20, 2011

Master Plan - February Project: The Office/Music Room

Phew! After six weeks of hard work, the office project is finally done, and I'm very excited to share it with all of you!
I'll start with the "before" pictures. And actually, these aren't the true "before" state; if you'll remember, we had friends in town in early February, so we had moved out my boyfriend Tom's drum kit temporarily, and after they left, we also moved out the full size bed that had previously leaned up against a wall, so these pictures are actually in a better state than the room was usually in.

This was the former desk area, which is on the right side of the room. The desk was big enough for Tom's computer, but mine generally lived on the kitchen table along with my various papers/bills I needed to handle. This wasn't working anymore (ok, it never really worked), so part of the office re-do required that I gain a spot in the room for my computer. (And more on those papers later!)

We also had more books on the (falling apart) bookshelf than we needed. Many of those were sold or donated, our favorites moved out to the living room, and we kept a few in the office.

Panning to the left, there was a dresser that sat in front of the windows and was generally unused, except maybe one or two of the six drawers. This was one of the many things I sold. The mirror and the lamp next to it were other victims.

This deceptively-empty area usually housed the drums in the left corner (where you see the guitar and violin cases), which was problematic since there is a closet on the wall to the left (not shown), so accessing the closet was a challenge. Also, the right corner (where you see the mirror) was home to the mattress & box spring, which were leaned upright against the wall when not in use. The mattress set was another of my Craigslist victims.

That was the old room. Overly cluttered, and not as functional as it should have been!

Fast forward six weeks to our new & improved Office/Music Room!

This is the same angle as the first picture. You can see the drums are back and in a new location. We put a bookshelf next to them which houses our music books and Tom's camera supplies.

Here's the same angle as the second picture. The dresser is gone, and the only thing on that wall now is a small basket/trunk that holds some of Tom's drum accessories when he's not using them. I like that it has a lid - it seems much tidier that way when you're storing something that just can't be stored in an orderly way.

And here is the crowning glory...the new desk!

(Same angle as the third picture, for those keeping track.) This is actually a dining table, since I had a tough time finding a desk in such a wide dimension that we could sit on opposite sides of it without breathing on each other. I'll give my parents credit for this idea - they have a huge desk that they share in this fashion. Add a second desk chair and voila - I have desk space!

The bookshelf on Tom's side houses our new wireless printer (love that thing!), various types of paper, and his school and art supplies.

The bookshelf on my side holds some of my books (mostly ones I haven't yet read) along with general office supplies. Also, here is the aforementioned closet that was a challenge to access previously. Not a problem anymore!

And of course, the lovely blue paint job really makes it seem like a whole different room. (Just painted this morning - I can still smell the fresh paint as I write this, from my new desk of course!)

This project really was a labor of love. This was the room that stressed me out the most, so I feel such a relief having completed this part of the transformation. I say part since my next two projects are actually related as well. My March project is the closet in this room, and I've already started on that a bit, and then my April project is revamping my filing cabinet.

Neither of these next two projects should take nearly the amount of work the main part of the room required, so you'll be hearing about those much sooner! In the meantime, since it's also office-related, I'll tide you over with a post about how I conquered my to-do piles (for good), so stay tuned!

2 comments:

Oh, I LOVE the blue! Re-painting my pretty green living room to a neutral for selling purposes was sad for me. I like having colors!

Also, the room as a whole looks great! I may have to steal your dining-table-as-dual-desk idea, depending on what we end up with in Vermont. In fact, I may be coming to you for lots of suggestions when we get to Vermont. Losing the basement is going to be tough, and result in a lot of newly-homeless items :(